Who Doth Protest Too Much?

The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of authorities must be moderated and controlled...if a nation doesn't want to go bankrupt.

               Cicero, 55 BCE

Over the last couple of weeks, the news coverage in the United States has been extraordinarily obsessed with talks about the budget cuts, sequestration and the blame game noted by the near apocalyptic visions of a post-sequestered world that seemed to keep the president up at night.  I dare say that little can compare to the degree in which the world will fall apart and off its axis if the howling of the congressional Democrats and the president are to be believed.  Only in the last few days has President Obama returned the land of the sane and reasonable with his declaration that the majority of Americans will likely not notice the budget cuts.  What would have happened if this approach had been the norm over the last couple of months?

Beginning with the Christmas holiday hand wringing that set up this due date, people have discussed this in the most extreme terms.  As congressional Republicans began pushing their leadership to let the cuts happen in hopes of getting some spending reduction, the Democrats responded with lamentations worthy of Jeremiah.  The $85b of spending cuts from a $3.6t budget represents not even 3% of the federal budget.  I dare say that most Americans do not understand such objections over 3% when they have had to cut much worse on a family level.  Meanwhile, in a world where one country after another is suffering the horrible effects of a debt-ridden economy, it is surprising to see the Democrats holding to the last vestiges of a big-government philosophy.  Greece, Italy, Spain and Ireland and many others are stepping from the brink by cutting back the role and expense of their governments.  Meanwhile, the United States is doubling down. 

Throughout American history, the government has been forced into major cuts in spending much more severe than the one being phased in now.  After World War II and during President Reagan’s term, the government cut its spending and the economy prospered as a result.  Economically, it is considered an axiom that as government spending decreases, private sector spending increases as they fill the void.  The more government spends, the more it occupies the limited factors of production.  This bromide philosophy that has been championed since the days of the Great Depression is a malum in se. 

In the final analysis, one has to consider how this plays out politically.  Journalist Bob Woodward, who helped bring down Richard Nixon, has pointedly explained that it was the Obama administration that introduced the idea of sequestration but as the Republicans have adopted it as their own policy, the president has ratcheted up the rhetoric and the calamitous prognostications.  If the president’s late reversal is correct and few Americans see or feel the spending cuts, the previous months of predictions by Democrats will seem like a red herring and they could lose horribly in the mid-term elections in 2014.  The American people will grow increasingly suspicious of the predictions of doom associated by Democrats of Republican policy.  Meanwhile, the Republicans could stand to gain a great deal both in the eyes of the people and in strengthening its hold on the Congress.  Conservatives, over the last months, have experienced the worst of character assassination.  They have been accused as wanting to hurt small children, pregnant women, disabled veterans and nearly anyone else the Democrats could imagine.  Is it any wonder that some Republicans questioned the wisdom of talking to the president at all? 

It has been said before by people much smarter than me that attitude reflects leadership.  Indeed, the president has created a vitriolic environment.  Opposing opinions are not granted much respect but rather tend to be characterized in the worst possible terms.  A man who was swept into office on the loftiest of oratory skills has descended into the deepest depths of vindictiveness.  The Republicans, in response, have grown more entrenched and less flexible.  Ergo, problems have prolonged much longer than necessary.  After the paltry percentile of cuts is fully realized, I hope lessons are learned but I’m not betting on it.